Who we are?

Since 12 December 2010 VFS Global Services Pvt Ltd is authorised, under contract with the Australian Government (The Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC)), to provide a range of visa related services. These services include:

	the collection of range of documents associated with a visa application
	collection of application charges
	receipting of money received
	providing the outcome of a visa decision to an applicant
	collection of biometrics (ten-digit fingerprint scan and digital photograph) at limited locations

Your information – your privacy

Under contract we are bound to manage your personal information in accordance with the Information Privacy Principles (IPPs) in the Australian Privacy Act 1988. Personal information basically means any information where you are reasonably identifiable.

The Privacy Policy does not apply to VFS Global Services employee records, which are generally exempt from the legislation.

Your right to privacy

The Privacy Act gives you a number of rights, including the following:

	you must be told why your personal information is being collected and whether it can be given to anyone else
	your personal information can only be collected for a lawful purpose
	you have the right to see what information is held about you and seek to have it corrected if it is incorrect, out of date or incomplete (the Australian Freedom of Information Act 1982 also covers this)
	you have the right to have your personal information stored securely and protected from unauthorised access or misuse
	you have the right to know how your personal information will be used
	if you believe your privacy has been infringed you can make a complaint

Disclosure of Information by DIAC

Disclosure of personal information must be in accordance with IPP 11 of the Privacy Act. Examples of when DIAC may disclose personal information can be viewed on the visa application form. Additional information can be found on DIAC’s forms 993i Safeguarding your personal information and 1243i Your personal identifying information.

Disclosure of Information by VFS Global Services

VFS Global Services may disclose personal information to sub-contractors such as data processing companies, courier companies and their officers, employees, agents and representatives for the purpose of providing VFS Global Services services for DIAC. All sub-contractors will be required to also adhere to the Information Privacy Principles in the Australian Privacy Act.

Access to and Correction of Information

Your visa application and any documents you provide are forwarded to the appropriate Australian Mission for processing. VFS Global Services does not retain or store any of your documents. If you wish to pursue access to the documents you can lodge a Freedom of Information request with DIAC, details of which can be located on DIAC’s website.

Where there is an administrative error, mistakes can be corrected under the Privacy Act. The types of corrections that fall within this category are:

	minor name changes due to typing errors, missed letters, obvious spelling mistakes
	third given name omitted
	data entry variation (eg family name and given name transposed)

Only obvious errors will be amended under the Privacy Act, if it does not raise questions of the person’s identity.

Transfer, Storage and Security of Information

VFS Global Services takes reasonable steps to protect the security of applicants’ personal information in accordance with this Privacy Policy. VFS Global Services regularly reviews and implements new security and encryption technologies for protection of personal information. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet can be guaranteed to be totally secure.

While VFS Global Services strives to protect such information, VFS Global Services cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information transmitted by applicants to VFS Global Services or obtained from VFS Global Services online services. Accordingly, the use of our online products is at your own risk.

Once any personal information comes into possession, VFS Global Services is contractually required to protect that information from misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.

Privacy Matters and Complaints

If you wish to obtain any information about how VFS Global Services has handled your personal information you can request the information via VFS Global Services complaint’s process, details of which can be located on VFS Global Services website. Generally VFS Global Services will respond within two working days and details of your enquiry and our response will be forwarded to the Australian Consulate-General, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Visa Office.

If you consider that VFS Global Services has not adhered to the IPPs you can lodge a complaint with the Australian Privacy Commissioner who has the power to investigate all complaints. For further information about the protection of privacy, please visit the Australian Information Commissioner’s website via the following website link:

See: Office of the Australian Information Commissioner

For any questions regarding this privacy policy, you can contact us by:

	completing an online feedback form See: Feedback – About our Service
	calling the Global Feedback Unit Telephone: 133 177
	writing to: The Manager, Global Feedback Unit, GPO Box 241, Melbourne VIC 3001 Australia